It may be tough to remember now, but that still very influential series premiered in early 2009, before MTV's Jersey Shore. They were followed by Jerseylicious, then Jersey Couture. Glam Fairy is next.

When a college kid in Oklahoma, who has never been to our state, dresses up like a guidette, fist pumps, and fakes getting into a fight for photographs, you might have a trend. When the Unversity of Chicago decides to host a conference on the show, you've got a national phenomenon. When an Iranian prison guard tortures his inmates, and asks them questions about our state because he has a fascination with New Jersey . . that's an international, well, - it's at 42:25 if you want to see for yourself.

So much for Bon Jovi or Kevin Smith. We might have to accept that Jersey Shore has become our cultural export to America and the world. There's bluegrass in the Appalachians, Cajuns in Lousiana, surfer dudes in California, and for many, the Guido will be indelibly linked to New Jersey, whether you like it or not. Even with all of the Boss's identification with our state, his middle name isn't "Jersey" or "Shore." That's right, MTV's most successful program ever is not going away quietly like many of usI had hoped. And it has our name stamped all over it.

The battle over Italian identity

In Whistling Vivaldi And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, author Claude M. Steele explains that the parts of our identity we cling to the most are usually the ones we feel are under attack. If you're from our state, the fighting spirit comes with the birth certificate. Whether you agree with them or not, these guys have been doing it for years. But if you don't embrace the stereotype, it's a double whammy if you're from here and Italian.

In another great summer read, How Italian Food Conquered the World, author John F. Mariani explains how, in the mid 20th Century, Americans liked "silly gimmick songs" by Italian Americans so much because "Italians, more than any other ethnic group, seemed to correspond to favorite stereotypes of them as pizza-loving, pasta-eating, happy sensualists." Dean Martin's "That's Amore" was referenced, but I thought Louis Prima would be more apt.

Fast forward to now. All of the Jersey reality shows feature a majority Italian American cast set in our state. So is Jersey Shore's success (and the others) because this is just a new generation of "happy sensualists" who turn on the charm when the camera is on? Maybe embedded in Northeast Italian American culture is a certain bravado, frankness, or nonchalance that does well in front of the lens.

It's not that easy; the community is very diverse. But should Italians embrace these stereotypes or disown them?

This seems to be an ongoing debate within the Italian American community, but now we're dealing with guidos instead of mobsters. A good friend, Dominick Pisa, of Jersey City said, "I really think they love us out there, and it's these 'cultured Italians' who balk at the images of anything from the peasant culture because they don't want to be associated with it." That came after our viewing of this clip from - tada -The Sopranos. So is it just an issue of class, the old blue vs. white collar argument, with both sides calling each other "gavones?"

Are they that bad?
There's also the argument that this isn't about Italian identity at all, but something else, the generic guido lifestyle, the degradation of our country's values, etc. But are they that bad? Jonathan, my old roommate from Hoboken, is a pilot. Our landlords were actually the Valastro family. Yes John participated in a Jersey Shore party, but he also confirmed to me what many on the Seaside Heights Boardwalk have already gone on record as saying, that the Jersey Shore cast members were actually polite in person. "I've been told by several of our flight attendants that various members of the cast are an absolute pleasure to have on board," he wrote.

Here's where I think critics have been hard on the cast (including myself). They're young and having fun at the Jersey Shore. The violent moments or arrests can't be condoned, but I do know that many readers have their own Jersey Shore memories of revelry or celebrate similar acts of licentiousness. Is it a double standard when Jim Morrison, Keith Richards, Ernest Hemingway, Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac all partied as hard or harder than the Jersey Shore cast, but are lauded for this today? (Hemingway has a pub named for him in Seaside). Think how segments of our culture tend to glorify this behavior because they were poetic. They had "beautiful minds." So should we be so hard on the cast because they have beautiful bodies? Seems to me, we're back to that old class debate.

The power of the edit . . . and a name

I don't fault the cast for cashing in on debauchery. It seems that they'll all be fine and that selective editing allows us to see their worst and not their best. Their best usually doesn't make final cut. The problem is their worst does and it falls onto us, the skeptical hosts, who have to live here when they're gone.

And now we have to live with the fact that "Jersey Shore" has dual meanings, and I'm not referencing the town in Pennsylvania. I personally wish the show was called "Seaside Heights," but that name wouldn't have given the show it's broader appeal, an appeal that's gone global. Maybe we should take solace that perhaps there's a person in say, Bahrain, whose idea of freedom and democracy is print-out of a New Jersey flag on his wall with J Woww, Sweetheart and Snooki in bikinis in the foreground. That's right, Jersey Shore now symbolizes different things to others than it does to us. After being kicked by Carlin for growing smokestacks, this just feels like a punch from another direction.

That's where I'm asking for your comments. I'm currently visiting family in Arizona and my wife and I are driving back to Jersey this week. I'm taking my camera with me and asking strangers along the way, what they think of the Jersey Shore, the real thing and the TV show. What would you say to them?